Mom Charged With Murder Left Kids Alone For More Than 14 Hours: Warrants

CARTERSVILLE, GA -- The woman who has been charged with murder following the drowning death of one her children will remain behind bars a little longer. That's according to the Bartow County Sheriff's Office, which said the bond hearing for Bobbie Jessica Prather, 32, has been bound over to the Superior Court.

She will remain held at the Bartow County Jail until she appears before a Superior Court judge, who will decide whether to grant bond to Prather, said spokesperson Sgt. Jonathan Rogers.

Prather was arrested and charged Monday with one count of felony murder and four counts of cruelty to children in the first degree after a sheriff's deputy responding to a call at a home on Canter Lane recovered the body of a 3-year-old boy from a swimming pool.

Sheriff's office investigators and units with the Bartow County Fire Department and EMS were all dispatched around 1:33 p.m. May 29 to the home and found the child, who was unconscious and not breathing, Bartow EMS spokesperson Brad Cothran told Patch.

According to warrants obtained by Patch from Bartow County Magistrate Court, Prather is accused of leaving her four children unsupervised for more than 14 hours.

"Said actions did cause the death of the victim when child fell into pool and had no supervision for such period of time," the warrant states.

The warrant outlines the cruelty to children charges stem from Prather allegedly deprived her three-year-old, four-year-old and two one-year-old children of "necessary sustenance" to the extent that their health and well-being had been placed in jeopardy. The children were all left without supervision for more than 14 hours, the warrant notes.

The new information from the warrants follows additional news released Tuesday by Cartersville police concerning the drowning of a three-year-old girl at a home on Waterford Drive. The agency said the rear door at the home had been left unlocked and that the victim was last seen at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Emergency crews were dispatched to a possible drowning call at that home around 12:48 p.m. May 27. CPR was initiated by family members and once emergency personnel arrived on the scene, they continued to perform the maneuver on the child who was found unresponsive inside a private pool in the backyard of the home, Bartow EMS spokesperson Brad Cothran previously told Patch.

They continued to perform those life-saving measures, but the child was later pronounced dead.

Images via Bartow County Jail